Introduction
Researchers at Indiana University’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering are pushing the boundaries of biomedical research by marrying acoustofluidics with artificial intelligence. Acoustofluidics—the manipulation of cells and other biological materials in liquid using sound waves—has long promised a label-free, contactless way to handle delicate biological materials. By integrating AI into this platform, the IU team aims to dramatically shorten the time from discovery to clinical translation, enabling faster protein analysis, drug screening, and personalized medicine.
What is acoustofluidics?
Acoustofluidics uses the principles of fluid dynamics and sonic forces to move, sort, and assemble microscopic particles and cells inside a fluid. Known colloquially as acoustic tweezers, this approach avoids traditional liquid-handling methods like pipetting, which can introduce contamination and damage sensitive samples. “Acoustofluidics is completely contactless, label-free and highly biocompatible,” said Feng Guo, an associate professor of intelligent systems engineering and director of the Intelligent Biomedical Systems Lab at IU. The technique does not require fluorescent tags or radioactive labels, reducing potential perturbations to living cells while maintaining experimental integrity.
The AI boost: real-time decisions and adaptive control
The new dimension to acoustofluidics comes from artificial intelligence. AI can monitor complex, real-time feedback from experiments and adapt protocols on the fly, something that human operators cannot do at the speed required by fast-moving biological systems. Guo notes that AI-enabled acoustofluidics could accelerate tasks such as protein analysis and screening of drug compounds—crucial steps in personalized medicine where therapies are tailored to individual patient biology.
“AI can help you generate the best protocol,” Guo explains. “It can provide dynamic feedback and dynamic monitoring to control fast, quick chemical reactions.” The combination promises to transform how researchers design experiments, optimize conditions, and interpret results without lengthy manual iteration.
Recent progress and potential applications
Guo’s group has demonstrated how a chaotic swarm of cells in a fluid can be redirected into orderly, precise movements using acoustic fields. This capability hints at broad applications across biomedical research—from steering immune cells to study tumor interactions to stimulating tissues or organs, such as neurons or muscles, with acoustic fields. In addition, the team envisions acoustic therapeutic patches that deliver precise drug dosages through the skin, leveraging the same core physics in a clinically translatable format.
IU has already pursued several applications under this umbrella, including rapid analyses of how drug compounds affect immune cell interactions in tumors and the exploration of organoid computing as a form of “biological intelligence.” The work also dovetails with larger NIH and NSF-funded initiatives, underscoring a broader push toward smarter lab-on-a-chip systems that blend physics, biology, and machine learning.
NIH grant, team growth, and translational impact
The project was recently awarded a $1.5 million NIH grant, enabling the recruitment of a new postdoctoral researcher and several undergraduate students to join the Intelligent Biomedical Systems Lab. The grant complements Guo’s broader portfolio, including a $16.5 million Alzheimer’s research grant with IU School of Medicine and a $2 million NSF award for brain organoid computing—both of which rely on intelligent acoustofluidics and organ chip platforms to model disease and test potential therapies.
Beyond academia, Guo reports rising interest from healthcare startups seeking to license aspects of the technology. He emphasizes a translational goal: to tackle practical challenges facing industry and clinical translation, not merely to advance acoustofluidics for its own sake. “We really want to push for that translational impact—to find the practical challenges for industry or clinical translation medicine and leverage our efforts into the workforce,” he says. “What I always say is scientists want to understand the world, but engineers want to change it.”
Conclusion
By fusing acoustofluidics with AI, IU is building a platform that could shorten discovery cycles, improve the precision of biomedical experiments, and accelerate the path from bench to bedside. The collaboration between physics, engineering, and biology exemplifies how interdisciplinary thinking can yield tools with real-world impact—helping clinicians develop better drugs, more effective therapies, and personalized treatment strategies for patients in the near future.
